How did everyone study for the MCAT?

[Endoxifen]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm personally reading every Kaplan book and condensing them into hyper-dense note packets (40-60 pgs). No details will be spared! This is really time consuming, however, so I only get 2 chapters done a day.

How does everyone else do it? I'm sure I'll be happy with my method once its done, but right now, its torture!!!!

 

[Gilakend]

I would recommend checking out the MCAT forum, lots of good info over there. Read the stickies too, there are study plans that a lot of people use. I plan on using the a study plan similar to the ones in the stickies i.e. SN2ed , mcatjelly, Nymeria.

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/mcat-discussions.31/

 

[TheAppleJuice]

Khan academy videos and practice passages

AAMC official test (there is now a second one available) <- take this only when you are finished studying

 

[CharlieBillings]

Used the SDN Sn2 method over 3 months. Scored a 35 (96% percentile ~~~517)

 

[MareNostrummm]

You only have to know 2 things to do well on the MCAT:

1. Water is polar
2. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

If you know those 2 concepts to a very deep level you can derive everything.

 

[Lucca]

@mcatjelly schedule for 2015 mcat. Scored well. Relied mostly on Khan Academy and TPR.

Anki is your friend.

 

[Asteri]

The 509+ MCAT Study Habits thread on the MCAT forums is pretty helpful, there are a lot of different strategies that worked well for people in the past.

I actually did a similar method to you. For biology I made a outline of all the important notes using the TPR all in one book. Physics/chemistry was just an equation sheet. Psych/soc I made an outline, but I would suggest using a dedicated P/S book for it as AAMC P/S was very different from the TPR all in one book P/S. For CARS I did practice tests.

Note that I didn't use a box set, so I also had a lot less outlining to do than you do if you are using the Kaplan set. I would also suggest getting the complete AAMC materials and doing those; they are as close to the MCAT as you can get

 

[Mclovin0351]

I would recommend not doing that.

Take practice exam, review said exam, extra review for concepts you struggled with. Repeat 5-15x. Myself and a few others I know scored above the 95th percentile like that.

Also highly recommend putting all your review notes into flashcards and reviewing them weekly.

 

[aldol16]

Focusing on all the small details is low-yielding and a waste of your time. Go through content review with an eye for bigger picture - you can always come back to the content if you're missing a lot of questions in certain subject areas.

 

[Je Suis Banane]

You know how you study best. Use what works for you. That said, my approach was as follows:
1. Start with a plan.
- When will you study? (take a lot of time and consideration to think about this - aim for at least 25 hours per week, make a schedule)
- Where? (needs to be a quiet place - zero tolerance for distractions)
- How will you keep yourself motivated? (you will get tired and bored... give yourself rewards and SELF-CARE!!! take time off)

2. Get your hands on any and all materials you can. Buy used materials off university/college friends or bookshare programs or estores
- You need to write a practice computerized MCAT at least every 2 weeks and on a regular schedule. Do it properly and spend the entire 7.5 hours to do it
- Take at least 4 hours to learn from your mistakes on the practice MCATS. Go through it thoroughly. Solve the problems you got wrong.
- Use online resources: this forum, khan academy (1.5 speed is your friend), use reddit's mcat forum if you have questions about particular topics
- Discuss the MCAT with friends (Consider a few study sessions with them. View them as a competitor that you need to beat. When they stop studying, you study harder. If they talk to you - tell them it isn't working and stop studying with them)

3. Learn
- Highlight specific words - avoid, at all costs, highlighting sentences and paragraphs.
- Take notes, but only on topics you are unfamiliar or have difficulty with. Spend the most time on things you don't understand or do not know well.
- Use AMCAS to figure out what the MCAT will test. Do not waste your time on low content yielding topics.
- Use a timer. Acclimatize to being able to study for 1.5 hours. I studied at least 4.5 hours every day in at least three 1.5 hour chunks. Usually I would take a 10 minute break between 2 of these chunks and then continue with the second one. This works because the MCAT uses the exact same timing and you need to adjust your attention span to dealing with the stress of studying and reasoning for so long.
- If you listen to music while you study, make sure it has no words. Classical music is great, as is electronic music such as 'Tycho'. If you like ambient noise, search for exam room noise on youtube.

That's it. I scored a 515 on my MCAT.

Good luck!

 

[MareNostrummm]

@mcatjelly schedule for 2015 mcat. Scored well. Relied mostly on Khan Academy and TPR.

Anki is your friend.

Anki was only really helpful for the P/S section for me.. got the 131 just doing anki 30 minutes a day for 3 months.

 

[chillingpanda]

To those that scored well: would you say that you're innately gifted with test taking or are you an avg joe that just set aside time, planned, and executed

 

[CharlieBillings]

To those that scored well: would you say that you're innately gifted with test taking or are you an avg joe that just set aside time, planned, and executed

Scored 35 (96% percentile). I would say I have always been a good test taker, but when I began MCAT questions/studying I was doing horrible. My verbal reasoning was around 40-50% correct, and ended up 80-90% correct after studying. Everyone I knew with good grades who didn't study well or long enough did awful on the actual exam.

 

[B-Lymphocyte]

I think that everyone has given sound advice so far. To reiterate what others have said, I think that doing practice questions and tests are better than brute force content review. Both are probably necessary to score really high on the MCAT, however, I would prioritize doing practice problems over doing content review.

That being said, if you are unfamiliar with a particular subject such as psych/sociology, then content review becomes more necessary.

 

[Endoxifen]

Where did everyone find these online practice exams? I know the AAMC exists, but where can I find others?

 

[B-Lymphocyte]

I've heard the Berkley review has some great practice exams. I never took one, but I did use their books to study. They had tough and challenging questions in their review books that I thought hit the type of questions the MCAT had dead on, or at least their biology/biochem one's were really good.

Also they do have extensive content review in addition to practice questions. Like I said earlier, if you have the time and self-motivation, a lot of content review is good, just prioritize doing problems first.